Butterfly Wings
by Quantum Physics
Summary: The beat of a butterfly's wings causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. What storm will rise with the existence of a life that wasn't meant to happen? attempt at serious OC SI story
1. I

**Title:** Butterfly Wings

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Genre:** Action/Adventure

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** The beat of a butterfly's wings causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. What storm will rise with the existence of a life that wasn't meant to happen? SI born into Naruto story.

**[AN] **Hello. Welcome to the first chapter of what will hopefully be a successful story. I was majorly inspired by the stories **Only a Moron** and **Dreaming of Sunshine**, by swabloo and Silver Queen respectively, and you should really go check their stories out if you read this one. Also inspired by the vast range of SI's on that spread through all categories.

Not that this is _really _an SI, considering reincarnation sort of changes people, but, well. Please enjoy.

* * *

**Butterfly Wings**

**a fanfiction  
**

* * *

**Prologue  
**

Dying isn't the most pleasant thing in the world.

Especially when it's from something stupid that could have been avoided if one was paying attention to their surroundings a little. Like, say, running down the sidewalk with your boss's coffee and paperwork, trying to be on time, and negotiating prices on a cellphone, only to have some of your boss's paperwork go flying out of your hands into the street so that you would have to run after it without thinking _exactly _where you're running, which happens to be directly in the path of a semi-truck...

What a crappy death I had.

I'd had such a busy hour... day... _week... _I think my brain had just ceased functioning as a human one and more like a robot. Walk, talk, get to work on time. Buy coffee. Close important deals. Sort through the slush pile on my desk, answer calls from persistent agents... I'd gone well and truly brain dead, enough to step right into the path of a giant, speeding, steel-covered grill.

Which brings me back to the subject at hand; getting hit by a truck. Not exactly the way I imagined myself to die. I didn't even see the thing, just the white paper blowing in front of my outstretched hand, the only thought in mind until a loud, blaring horn cut through everything else.

Then sky.

Something had hit me; I was lucid just enough to know that, but my body had seized up unexpectedly. I was on the ground. Dozens of white paper fell from the sky, blue and cloudless in the perfect summer day.

Then the blue faded to black, and that was the last thing I remembered.

Weird to think that my death in one world wasn't the End at all, but rather only the Beginning of a whole new adventure.

* * *

A human being takes nine months to form into a living, functioning, entity. What people tend to forget is that the day you are _born _isn't necessarily the day you come into existence.

The first moment I began to think again was in darkness. I was surrounded by darkness, in a small space that was warm and quiet, and even though I _knew _I had once been claustrophobic, and _knew _that it wasn't right I should be remembering I was claustrophobic at all, I was at peace.

In and out of clarity I drifted. Sometimes, in moments of clarity, the thoughts I wasn't supposed to be thinking would overwhelm me and I would panic. My tiny fists would lash out, or I would kick, small fits of fear in the prison/haven of mine I couldn't remember how I had gotten to, but then I would calm— voices, muffled voices would speak softly to me from beyond, a place I hadn't reached yet. This would be followed by the overwhelming sensation of _safe. I am safe. __I am loved. Safe._

Then I would curl up tightly, and sleep.

* * *

Human beings aren't meant to remember that dark time before birth.

I learned the hard way. Looking back, to the very beginning, to those very first memories of this new life, I've tried time and again to forget that horrible, horrible memory most of all. I haven't succeeded.

One day I woke, stirring restlessly, and simply knew that something was wrong. The darkness had changed, from warm and safe to tight and dangerous, something harmful. Instincts were screaming, imaginary voice were whispering that it was time to Go. I had to get Out. Only, it wasn't right, because I wasn't suppose to _leave so soon_ and it was all wrong, even as my small, dark world began to constrict, and the very first feeling my body experienced... was pain.

Everything after that seemed to last for eternity. I shall spare you the details, and tell you the short version: There was pain. There was sudden light. And I, completely and utterly traumatized by the act that is childbirth, screwed up my eyes and cried.

Scratch that, I didn't cry, I _wailed_. I screamed at the top of my tiny lungs to the maximum capacity they were capable of, because I scared and in pain and I was being borne away by some strange being that was holding me easily in the palm of two hands... which wasn't _normal _was it? Was it _normal _to be so small?

Some part of me began to beg for the slightest gentle touch, for the familiar touch of the person who had spoken to me for months and months. Instead, as I cried with the first breath of life, I was passed from hands to hands until I was under something harsh and bright and hot, and definitely _not _human. This made me cry even more if that was remotely possible, because it wasn't the human touch my tiny body craved for.

It would actually be days until I was held by the one who was meant to hold me, but I wouldn't know that until much later. Instead, in the first awful day of my life I cried myself to sleep, unable to open my eyes and see the blurry new world around me.

It would be days until I would finally be claimed by what I would come to call my _family._

My very first night of life in the real world started with the Dream.

* * *

I'm still not sure how I managed to keep my head through the whole confusing process of transitioning between worlds, going from adult to baby, and then quite suddenly to adult again as I freaking woke up in darkness again.

Only not really 'woke,' because I was still asleep, and it was a little confusing that way when I was suddenly aware I was back in the body of my previous life. I know I cursed a lot with my newly restored lung and vocal capacity. After a good long tirade of pent of feelings and hysteria, I finally was left with nothing to say, and that was when I noticed the entity patiently waiting for my attention.

I wish I could say what it was. I can't even describe what they looked like. I think it might have been a he, but also it could have been a she. Either way, they had an appearance that simply was indescribable. As if every identifying feature was all blurred together into an unrecognizable splotch of nondescript color.

Being the frustrated individual I was, I demanded what the hell was going on, and surprisingly enough I got an answer rather quickly.

_I am the one who lives in the spaces in between, _They said, in a maddeningly nonchalant voice.

"Just what the hell does that mean?" I demanded back, in a voice I would use for the last time.

_Exactly what it means._

"That doesn't even make sense!"

_Nothing usually does. _

"Why am I here, then? What's going on?"

_I am curious to see what will happen. Variables are a very interesting thing to study._

"What the hell—"

_Think of it this way. I am the one who walks in the green glade. There is a different pond every few feet, and in every pond is a reflection of a tree. Many ponds reflect one tree, but every reflection is a little different. In the end, though, I still watch the same tree._

"I don't even—"

_I am so very tired of seeing the same reflections. So what will happen, I think, If I take the leaf of a tree from one pond and place it in the other? What if I take the soul of one world, and give it new life in a different one? _

"I—"

_Don't worry. I think you'll find that you recognize this reflection. There are infinite worlds out there, you know, some with the simplest difference of the color of one an individual's hair. Chances are if you've thought of it, it exists._

"...am I being reincarnated?" I asked in a very uncertain voice, confused beyond relief by this weird unmemorable person. They tilted their head, smiling down on me in a way that suggested they were humoring and pitying me at the same time.

_Perhaps. _Was all they said.

They leaned close towards me, and I found I couldn't tear myself away.

_It is said that the single beat of a butterfly's wings will cause a mighty hurricane on the other side of the world, _they said simply. _By casting a new leaf in a still pond, you will cause ripples that will grow and grow and grow until they finally strike the edge, and the pond will be changed so as long the leaf is there. _You _are the ripple. _You _are the caterpillar that will become the butterfly to cause the storm I wish to see._

_And so, little one, what sort of beautiful wings will you grow?_

* * *

The dream had mostly faded by the time I woke, but something had changed. There was a new awareness to me, a new vigilance that calmed my cries as I lay swaddled under that bright non-human light. Thus I lay there, for what would later be classified as days. Several times different people— I knew they were people by now— would come to examine me, lifting me up and poking with with lots of different objects that frankly pissed me off before placing me back down on what I soon recognized as a hospital bassinet under a heat lamp.

It was in that bassinet that I finally opened my eyes for the first time. Everything was a blurry mess, of course, but gradually my sight sharpened, bit by bit, until I could recognize basic features of the people that attended to me. I relied heavily on sight to recognize face from face; when I comprehended the concept of speech and when people were talking to me, I couldn't understand. A single. Word. Whatever language people spoke in this world sure as hell wasn't English, and it hurt my tiny head trying to pick up an sort of familiar words. After a while I stopped trying.

One day I was taken from the bassinet as usual, but instead of all the tests I was subjected to, I was tightly wrapped in light pink blankets and carried down long hallways to a room I had never been in. There was lots of speaking— none which I understood— and lots of loud, happy sounding words.

There in that room, wrapped in my pink blankets and desperate to find out what was going on, I was placed in the arms of a man I didn't recognize. That is, until I looked up.

I saw thick white hair, and dark, tired eyes. I saw the edges of a green vest, the glint of metal resting at the base of a throat.

As I was passed into the arms of this man, it was only natural that he'd lift me up to see me, to examine, and thus bring me closer to his face, to the band at his neck.

The face was shockingly familiar. _Too _familiar. Stunned into silence, my little eyes widened, enough to see the swirling pattern of a leaf shine from the metal plate in front of me. Meanwhile, the people who had given me away were still speaking mostly gibberish, save for a few single, painfully recognizable words I never thought I would hear.

Hatake-san.

Sakumo-san.

Hatake Sakumo.

When I was taken away, in the arms of this man I had never seen before, all it took was an extra burst of memory from a life past to connect the dots.

My father was Hatake Sakumo of Konohagakure, of the village hidden in the leaves_, _and I had been born into the world of the story _Naruto._

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[A/N]: Thank you very much for reading this first story of mine. To tell the truth, this whole concept was born around the sentence "What kind of wings will you grow?" And thus came the name of this story.

I chose Naruto to start my SI adventures in because it was the first manga I ever read, and probably the story I'm most familiar with. We'll see how it goes, I guess.


	2. II

**Title:** Butterfly Wings

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Genre:** Action/Adventure

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** The beat of a butterfly's wings causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. What storm will rise with the existence of a life that wasn't meant to happen? SI born into Naruto story.

* * *

**Butterfly Wings**

**a fanfiction**

* * *

**Chapter II**

* * *

That night the moon shone softly through my window, illuminating the edges of my cradle. It must have been in the early hours of morning, but I was still awake, and trying to deal with the massive overload of information that happened to be the entirety of my brand-new life. I churned through thoughts and ideas and denials faster than the brain of a days-old baby was suppose to, but then I wasn't a conventional baby, was I? I was the mind and spirit of a _twenty-four _year old from a previous life.

And I was wondering just how exactly I was going to live in a world I'd only known from stories.

...Why was I greeted by the sight of a fictional character? The words of the mysterious entity from my dreams echoed back. All that crap about reflections, infinite worlds and differences...

Hatake Sakumo was a character. A fictional character, from my favorite childhood manga _Naruto. _I'd loved that manga when I was a kid, devouring every issue and plot twist, memorizing all the characters that appeared. That had changed as I grew; my tastes expanded, I moved on to different hobbies, and eventually, I forgot a good deal of the story. The book itself had still claimed a special place in my heart, so I hadn't forgotten the _whole _thing. Just some of the secondary characters, and a lot of little plot points. I still had remembered, though, pretty much all of the main characters and relations to them, which was why I could still pull Sakumo from my mental compendium of characters.

I can now say that my epiphany in the hospital wasn't just a fluke— my father wasn't a look-alike with the same name as a character I knew from a manga, since hey, anything was possible in alternate universes, right?

Except I had seen the leaf around his neck. Adding the experience that followed as I was cleared from the hospital, the evidence I was given plus the strange freaky entity from my dream, well... I could come to no other conclusion than that somehow, I had been reborn, into a world very, very similar to the one I had read about in the story of _Naruto._

I'd never really given thought much of Reincarnation in my... previous life. I never thought much about life after death at all. For crying out loud, when I died I was twenty-four— hardly the time in life when you start wondering about when you die and where you go and all that crap. But here I was, in the body of a newborn and the knowledge that some _freaky otherworldly guy-thing _had plucked me out of one world and deposited me in another with out so much as my say-so. Granted, I had been hit by a truck...

Still.

Thinking back on it I now realize that I had connected the dots a little too quickly given the circumstances. Without the sudden insight, I probably would have panicked instead, or waited for my reincarnation to sink in before figuring out how to adjust to the new life before me. Would have, if not for the fact that the knowledge, the clarity, the sudden epiphany of what world I now existed in had surfaced so fluidly and planted themselves in my subconscious in a way that was just plain _unnatural. _That, I suspect, was thanks— or rather no thanks, I'm still deciding— to the mysterious entity of my dream. The so-called One who walked the spaces in between or whatever.

I really wish I could say that from that epiphany, with the knowledge of all that lay before me, I was struck with the meaning of my existence, what I was meant to accomplish, and strong ideas of the path set before me.

Nah.

Most of my thoughts after epiphany were more along the lines of of _holy shit holy shit I know that guy what is this this world doesn't exist this guy holding me doesn't exist what the hell is going on what am I going to do holy shit holy shit holy shiiiiiii—_

Ahem. You get the general idea.

At one point in the transit between hospital and new home, all the emotions were too much for my tiny body. I was, after all, stuck back in infancy. With heightened sense of fear, confusion, and hysteria I reacted quite naturally; my eyes scrunched up, my fists clenched, and before I knew it was I was fussing and crying, clutching at the pink blanket I was swaddled in. I wanted to go home, I wanted to be back to normal, I wanted to cry out my misery to the whole world I'd been forced into, so I did.

After I started crying, though... Was a moment I will never forget. Not ever. As it marked my very first memory of the love of my father, my new father whom I hadn't even accepted as a parent yet because I was still in a deep state of denial.

As tears leaked from my eyes, the rhythm of being carried stopped. (For the life of me, I can't remember what happened after the hospital— I know he left, and I know I was carried home, but things are fuzzy.) Strong arms tightened securely underneath me. The busy sounds I later placed as ones of a healthy populated area faded until they were faint and mute, as Hatake Sakumo settled in a calm, quiet place and held me with all the protectiveness of a parent. He spoke to me in soothing words, still in the gibberish language I didn't understand, although I didn't need to since the message was the same. He stroked at the soft patch of hair on the top of my head, and allowed me to grip his finger with my tiny hands.

For an immeasurable amount of time my... _father... _waited patiently as I cried myself out. Slowly, bit by bit, I began to calm. My wails quieted, my breath shrank to tiny hiccups, and he gently rocked me in those supporting arms until at last, I was silent, wide-eyed and almost disbelieving in the strange calm that settled in the air.

He remained that way for a while longer, lapsing into silence. Then we were off again, and I was held none the less tightly than before.

It was... weird. To one moment be utterly on the edge of hysteria, and then out of it just as fast. I didn't have an inkling of memory from the last time I was a baby, so were these mood swings normal?

I puzzled this. I also puzzled the sense of warmth, one that licked at my belly before spreading all over, and I realized quickly that I was happy.

Happy and content.

Even now, lying in my crib, I could remember that warmth. I knew it would be something I would remember, always. It was the first moment that I tentatively, if not subconsciously, began to recognize Hatake Sakumo as my father.

I'd like to share more of my first real day of life in Konohagakure, but there's only so much you can remember as a baby. Instead, I can whittle that very first day into points:

One: I had been reborn.

Two: I had been reborn into an alternate world that mirrored the _Naruto _manga I'd read in my... uh, previous youth.

Three: My father was a ninja, one certain Hatake Sakumo.

Four: My new life, my new home was here, beginning in a cradle in a room in house that housed my new family, a brand new father and a brand new older brother...

To which I'd better end with point Number Six:

My brother happened to be a certain individual named Hatake Kakashi.

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**[A/N]:** Physics here. Thanks for reading to chapter two. And thanks to those guys who watched, and even favorited and reviewed on this story. The beginning of the story starts out a little short and slow, but it'll build up as time goes by and the character grows up/grows into this strange new world.

Until next time.


	3. III

** Butterfly Wings_  
_**

* * *

Chapter II

* * *

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In my first meeting with Hatake Kakashi, I got the feeling he wasn't that interested in me.

Backing up a bit; to recount, it was Sakumo who carried me from the hospital, calmed me down during my brief fit of hysteria, and continued carrying me towards some unknown location I only assumed would be his house. Er— my house? Still hard to get into the mindset of having a new dad. Had they ever really shown where Sakumo lived? All I could remember was that apartment place where Kakashi lived, and that _couldn't _be it—

My brain helpfully dragged up the entire Hatake Kakashi folder and dumped it in to process with everything else. Thanks, brain, really what I needed. I promptly felt panicked again. Okay, so if _I _was in a universe resembling that of _Naruto, _and I was currently being carried home by _Sakumo_, did that make me some kind of... of... female-Kakashi-genderbend?

No. Oh hell no. If I was actually _replacing _a character of total, absolute essentialness to the story, and that made _me _responsible for everything _he _had been... Oh god, I'd have to learn to be a genius and develop the Chidori? Minato would be my teacher, I'd have to lose my _eye _in order to get the Sharingan from Obito, I'd have to be a _freaking_ ANBU _captain _and fail every genin team assigned to me until the fateful day when Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would come along and get the _whole _story started, and there was so much more _after _that—

...There went my entire life flashing before my eyes. Was I going to cry? I was going to cry again. No, I didn't want to cry again. But I was fussing— Sakumo was speaking softly again as he walked, not that I could understand a word of it, and I dearly wished I could actually see where we were going and what the surroundings looked like, since everything past my blanket got all fuzzy and gave me a headache if I tried to look too hard. It was cruel torture to only _hear_ Konohagakure around me, but not see a bit of it.

_I do not want to be a Kakashi replacement. _I chanted in my head, my silent mantra,_ I do not want to be a Kakashi replacement..._

This continued, through an indeterminate amount of time I couldn't tell yet, when Sakumo's walking direction changed and the hustle-bustle I'd been listening to muted. More walking, another turn. (It was really boring thinking of things direction-wise, but hey, only so much you can think of without visuals...)

Then, I heard a soft slide and a dull _clack _not unlike a sliding door. Surroundings darkened, followed by cool air. Oh. We were inside, I realized, inside of a house. Not that I could see it, but... was this the Hatake household?

I mused over this, when suddenly came the sound of running feet over floorboards, and the next thing I knew was Sakumo calling out in a happy-sounding voice... and was _answered. _By a very, very young-sounding voice, tinged with curiosity.

_Did... did Sakumo just say...? I thought I heard..._

I was being lowered, feeling the sensation of weightlessness as Sakumo knelt to the ground, and I caught a sudden flash of white. Damn blanket, getting in the way, I wanted to _see._ There were two voices conversing over me now, still in gibberish. One was Sakumo, a voice I was getting slowly getting used to, and now this new one, that if suspicious were correct, belonged to—

Then I saw his face, and all I could do was stare.

A kid was staring back at me, leaning close to get a look at my tiny figure swaddled in blankets. A _little _kid— with a round face and wide eyes, staring curiously.

A _mask-less _face. I'm not sure what shocked me more; that I recognized this little kid even though he was, well, little, or that fact that _there was no mask _covering the bottom half of his face. Except, there was no mistaking it— the dark eyes, the bright white hair.

This kid was Hatake Kakashi, and he couldn't be any more than a few years old.

Also... I was _not _a Kakashi replacement. _Thank you, universe! _I sighed mentally in relief.

I went back to staring at my new brother in a strange state of shock. He stared unabashedly back, blinking in a slow manner before asking a question. I assumed it was a question, since it sounded like one, and Sakumo answered in a single word;

"_Botan," _he said warmly, brushing a gentle finger down my cheek.

"_Botan?" _Kakashi repeated, tilting his head and staring at me again. He thought about this for a moment, then nodded.

Botan? Was that... my name?

Shortly after this monumental meeting between brother and sister, Kakashi went from faintly curious to faintly bored in matter of seconds, spoke a few short words to Sakumo, and pattered off. His face disappeared, and I mentally went _huh? _

I sort of thought he'd be more... I don't know, excited? Apparently Sakumo thought this as well, as he made an slightly resigned sort of noise and stood. Then I was being carried through the mysterious house, that I could only see in blurred shades of dark colors, and smell in the form of wood. More walking, heavier steps that sounded like stares, and at last, another sliding door sound.

Sakumo's arms unwrapped themselves as I was lowered. Instantly I fussed, nervous from the lack of human contact, but his voice comforted me. I heard that one word, _Botan, _again, as Sakumo finally withdrew and I found myself in the plush confinement of a crib— the one I would be spending a lot of time in for the next few years of my life.

I have no idea how time managed to pass itself afterwards. That very first night in my crib, though, running through all those thoughts in my head, I know I finally drifted off to sleep. Not without a final thought of course, short as it was.

_Hatake Botan, huh? I guess... it isn't a bad name._

* * *

After the induction into the Hatake household, life settled into me quickly whether I liked it or not, seeing as it usually was supposed to be the other way around. If I wasn't in my crib, which was utterly boring, I was with Sakumo, who actually was quite the model father figure.

Kakashi on the other hand barely visited. In fact, the first week or so in my new home I didn't see him at all. This annoyed me to an extent. Shouldn't he, as a new big brother, be more curious or something? He never came into my room, and when I was carried about I didn't see him either, since Sakumo was way taller and I only could see about half a foot before everything blurred and I received more headaches from trying to use a sense that wasn't fully developed.

Once I found myself pushed into my brother's arms as my father was forced to attend to some errand that required the use of both hands. It was only for a few minutes, but they were the most awkward minutes ever as Kakashi sat stock-still and made it very clear through his body language that he did _not _want to be holding me in his lap. He didn't even look down, and the hurried, relieved way he handed me back ticked me off somewhat. I still freaked about the fact that he was _Kakashi, _and a Kakashi that had to be what, two? Three years old at the most, but I must admit... the awe of it was wearing off pretty fast.

I pretty much hated being a baby.

For one, being _tiny._ It meant I was carried everywhere and treated something like a doll, granted it wasn't like I could dress myself or anything like that. I was taken care of every hour of the day by Sakumo, who always made sure I was clean and wearing warm clothing and feeding me from a bottle (Which was all kinds of humiliating. I felt guilty about it later, but I'd always fuss big time when that stupid bottle came around.)

I'm not even getting_ started _on diapers. Nope. Nuh-uh. I'd rather burn _that _part of my life out of memory.

Secondly... was the state of my emotions. I was a baby, under a year old, with the mental state of an adult. My brain was _technically _not even developed yet. The repercussions of having an entire set of memories crammed one tiny little space was not... pleasant. For starters, I cried— a lot.

Every day I cried from the overwhelming number of headaches that pounded relentlessly in my head as a battle was waged to accommodate. My memories hazed; one moment, I was lucid, able to recount perfectly where I was and everything that had been happening to me thus far, and the next moment I would relapse into a confusion of jumbled sensations and emotions. Basically, slipping back into the mental capacity of what a baby was suppose to have. It was horrible and disorienting, and most of all, it _hurt. _Every tiny emotion, be it the smallest doubt or fear would amplify itself until I would find myself wailing at the top of my lungs with out the faintest idea why. Most of these sessions happened in the middle of the night when they were worst; I'd dream, wake up, panic at the flip-flop of mindsets, and cry until I woke up the household and a very tired Sakumo found a way to calm me down.

In the end, little by little, I was accepting my new life, and new family. Days were pretty much the same of course— wake up, breakfast, be bored out of my mind, cry uncontrollably, try in vain to see mini-Kakashi, cry some more, dinner, be put back to bed and eventually wake everyone up in the middle of the night crying—

Except...

There was one thing that continued to haunt me, one niggling kernel of guilt that remained all through my thoughts and became the focus of more than one night-time musings.

That guilt was my... mother.

From the very beginning, I knew the spot that should have been filled was missing. Instead, there was only a large, gaping hole, ugly and radiating sorrow no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. In the original story, nothing was ever known of Kakashi's mother, Sakumo's wife, the missing Hatake; All I ever knew was that she had died long before the story began, when the famous copy-ninja was small.

The memory of my birth lingered in my mind; of the pain, the panic, the instinct that I had left the Dark Place far too early. I knew, of course, what had happened, but it wasn't something I liked to think about. Couldn't think about. The hole simply remained, the elephant in the room... at least, for me.

One day Sakumo seemed different. He was quiet, spending long amounts of time simply holding me in some place I came to categorize as the warm-green place I still couldn't see yet. For a long time we were together in silence, until my father began speaking to me, quiet and subdued.

As I looked on with wide, solemn eyes, he shifted, holding up a square of color. Balanced in the crook of his arm, the image took on from and shape as he brought it close to me, enough for me to see a photograph clutched between his fingers.

There were two people in it; the first, a tiny Kakashi, recognizable from the shock of white hair. There was wide smile stretching ear-to-ear across his face, something both amusing and startling at the same time as I'd yet to get used to seeing him without his mask, and so expressive. The second person was... a woman. She was tall, and pretty, with a kind smile and dark brown hair. With both hands resting firmly on Kakashi's shoulders, I caught only a glimpse of the round shape of her stomach, bulging faintly through her clothes.

I may not have entirely understood the odd language of Konoha, but in knew enough to understand when Sakumo quietly told me my mother's name, lovingly tracing the edges of her figure against the glossy surface of the photograph. For a moment his breath caught, and I felt Sakumo shutter with a low sob.

Then the photo was put away, and I never saw it again.

Not once did my father ever hold me at fault for the death of Hatake Satomi, for giving up her life in exchange for mine.

I puzzled over it for a very long time.

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[A/N]: Woaaah so many new watchers so quickly. I open my inbox, there's like 80 new messages. Mega thanks, Silver Queen!

Curious readers were wondering how old Kakashi currently is. It'll (sort of) be cleared up in this here chapter.

Masashi Kishimoto went through several different names for Kakashi that were → Kuwa, Kama, Botan, Enoki, and Kakashi → Botan is also girl's name → hence, main character's name is Hatake Botan. Kinda wanted to stick to that field/farm theme.

...Man, I want the character to grow up already. Writing infancy is hard.


	4. IV

**Title:** Butterfly Wings

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Genre:** Action/Adventure

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** The beat of a butterfly's wings causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. What storm will rise with the existence of a life that wasn't meant to happen?

* * *

**Butterfly Wings**

Chapter 3

* * *

When I was six months of age I drowned in my sleep.

Or at least, it felt that way. Snapping awake, filled with terror, I took the deepest gulps of breath I could, and burst out crying, the curse of infancy. It soon became apparent that my crying wasn't just crying, but a full on tantrum, which I unfortunately... didn't remember much of, because the moment I went into hyperdrive I slipped back into baby-mentality again, and the rest of the night went fuzzy.

Bright and early the next morning I cringed in my high chair, squirming with guilt as Sakumo shuffled around the kitchen like a zombie, and little Kakashi's head slowly tilted downwards— right into his breakfast. Evidently I'd kept them up half the night. How I managed to fall back asleep, I will never know, and it took some work to not act as guilty as I felt, especially with how tired my dad looked.

Granted, it was amusing when Kakashi started awake with toast stuck to his face. He complained very bitterly about this, though Sakumo just smiled at him and handed him a napkin to wipe away the jam.

"It's just a phase," he said simply, "I seem to remember _you _having very similar periods when you were an infant." He chuckled as little Kakashi grumbled and denied ever having done so. Then he set to forcing me to eat horrible tasting baby food.

In the days that followed, I came to uneasy terms that my body had changed.

* * *

Chakra was, I decided, both a wonderful and frightening thing. It wasn't a nightmare that had caused the sensation of drowning that one night, it had been my chakra coils coming into maturity, flooding me with a flowing foreign power that hadn't been there before. Whether it was normal or not to feel your chakra developing and moving like that, I wasn't quite sure, but since it was something you had to sense and manipulate on your own, it couldn't be unusual, right?

Maybe I was a chakra sensor type. Or maybe it was because I'd actually never had chakra coils before. Well, whatever; either way, they were there, with nothing left but to get used to the fact. It wasn't like there was anything else to do than accept things, considering my new life and all.

Time had flown surprisingly fast since the day I officially joined the Hatake household. I'd dreaded spending day after day in utter boredom, stuck in my tiny body... until I figured out that the best way to deal with the whole thing was just to go with the flow. That is, instead of fighting against infant mentality, to just let it run its course.

Surprisingly (or maybe not— it seemed to be the moral of everything) in _not _actively struggling to keep my previous identity, my crying fits lessened, and the constant pounding headaches faded. At the same time, it was now easier to call up my past memories when needed and remain _me_. It was like my new brain had finally settled with the old, coexisting instead of fighting it back, though the occasional ache still remained and probably would until I properly grew into myself.

With my infant's mind, I took to soaking up everything around me like a sponge.

Probably the best example would be the language barrier. Beforehand, I'd been unable to understand a single word, and struggled to make sense of it without result. Once I actually settled down and _listened, _however, it all came rushing in and, well, making sense. It was exciting, in a way. What started out as gibberish began to change into starts and pauses. Individual words began to form, words that strung themselves into short sentences, then longer ones. The happiest I'd been, I think, since my reincarnation, was when Sakumo spoke to me one evening and to my great joy, I understood every word. (Okay, so it was an unglamorous "Ready for bedtime, Botan?" kind of sentence, but c'mon, I actually knew what he was saying!)

I'd smiled and laughed with glee, and visibly surprised the older Hatake.

So, things had started looking up. I was learning a new language; I was settling into my family. I was growing bigger by the day, followed by a steadily increasing range of mobility. Soon I was crawling across floors under watchful supervision, where I was allowed to annoy the crap out of little Kakashi, who more often than not would complain simply about my being in the same room as him. Protests that I was 'staring at him too much' and similar phrases soon became common. Well, maybe the staring one was true. After all, he was still _Kakashi, _albeit in the new form of a somewhat irritating older brother, and he still didn't have a _mask._

That aside, my relationship with my brother wasn't that distant after all. Due to his acting as if I didn't exist for my first few months of life, I was pleasantly surprised when during a productive session of building blocks he came over of his own accord and began pointing out all the flaws in my makeshift tower. He then attempted to teach me proper construction skills. Naturally I didn't listen, and an intense building race began which ended with me demolishing his creation with a well-aimed block and him promptly knocking mine over in revenge. Fun times.

He didn't ignore me so much after that. Little Kakashi still complained like a good big brother, of course, but after that day I earned myself a reluctant playmate. Better yet, if we were lucky, Sakumo would join us and attempt to dazzle us with his toy skills... which ended up failing on so many levels. Usually Kakashi would sit, highly unimpressed, and I'd ignore them both and crawl around trying to tug on Sakumo's freakishly long ponytail thing, because he _had one_. It sort of disturbed me, since it bore resemblance to a certain Toad Sage and I frequently wondered what my dad looked like with his hair down.

Even if it were only the three of us living in one big house, I began to gain some of first happy memories as a Hatake.

* * *

I'd forgotten just what kind of world I lived in, until my chakra came. It was a wake up call; a reminder of what people grew up in this world to be. What I'd be expected to be. What my _brother_ would become. And for a small amount of time, for a few days, I was scared.

As night came, and I'd be relegated back to my room, there was nothing to do except lie back and not fall asleep since frankly I was a little afraid. I didn't want to feel the strength of my own chakra overwhelming me. Not again.

That feeling changed the longer I stayed awake. In the silence, with a little extra concentration I found that I could _feel_ my chakra; feel the streams moving sluggishly through their coils, winding up and down around my body. It was... weird.

For one, it was always different. First and foremost I felt the chakra itself, an entirely different entity than what I was used to, but once I got used to _that,_ I found that the general feel of the chakra itself would change. Mainly, I felt it as I first had, when it had tried to drown me; like a river. A long, slow, coursing river, winding its way along my veins. Like... water. If water had replaced my blood, with all its depth and subtle touch. More often than not I'd find myself mesmerized by it, eventually lulling me to sleep. When it wasn't water, I felt it as something more sharp, more... static. Charged, flickering in and out, bringing heat instead of cold. It tickled sometimes, prickling up and down among its constraints, keeping me awake with the power held just enough in check, but ready to strike at a moment's notice.

There were other sensations too, but they were weaker, harder to feel. One felt like the rumbling of earth, dark and rich and still.. Another whistled, rushing and tumbling with a force that felt harsh and dry. Last, the weakest of all, was a slow, steady burn, like coals covered in ash or slow-moving magma underneath the heavy crust that was me. I explored all of them, wary of the ones that felt like they'd explode without my say-so, more at ease with the ones that were calm, more willing to listen to what I wanted.

It took weeks to fully master the feeling of all of them, and of the chakra itself. My curiosity increased the more I understood it, especially with the way that all of them seemed to be waiting for something, some kind of signal, staying with boundaries, but at the same time... pushing against them.

I couldn't help it. One day, when I was by myself with all my toys, I experimented.

It wasn't _easy,_ per se, to just want to call up your chakra like that, but in leaps and bounds I found I could control small amounts in my hands, opening some sort of valve just enough to let a small amount through. I say _valve _because I mostly focused on the water-like chakra when I did this. It was the easiest way, with the way it calmly collected in my palm and listened to my direction. The static-y chakra worked almost as well and listened well enough, but I didn't like the way it jumped so easily. Last thing I wanted was for my own chakra to escape from me, so I tried not to use it much. The whistling chakra was the same, only more frightening; it twisted and twirled and came gusting out with such a force I shut it off immediately, unable to really get it to listen. The earthy chakra muddled itself and congealed until it felt like thick mud clogging my fingers, refusing to come out at all, and the last, the magma chakra... burned my fingers.

Not really burnt, of course, but one moment I'd been coaxing it, the next it was blazing forward unchecked and I was so startled I burst out crying. Later, after I'd calmed down I thought of it as adding dry wood to the covered coals and accidently starting a wild fire. I never touch the burning chakra again after that.

Despite the underlying sense of caution from working with something I wasn't really suppose to yet, I found myself playing with the chakra more and more every day, whenever I could. This was something I'd never had in my previous life, and it was _fascinating. _Completely engrossed with my work, however, one day it almost got me busted. Sakumo had briefly left the room, to attend to some small task I didn't care about. No sooner had he turned his back that the chakra was out, coiling in my hand. I'd found that beyond collecting it in one area like water in a glass, I could send it trickling out through my fingers, too. I practiced both ways before letting it fill my palm again. There were some building blocks nearby; I eyed them. Slowly, I grabbed it, folding my chubby fingers over the edges and lifting the block into the air. I felt the chakra ripple, molding to the flat surface pressed into it. As if sucking it in.

Slowly, very slowly, I opened my fingers.

The cube remained stuck to my skin without any support whatsoever.

...but only for a couple of seconds. With another rippled I lost my hold, and the block dropped to the floor. I felt triumphant and oddly tired, but flushed with victory when—

"Botan?"

To my credit I didn't jump a mile in the air like I felt I did at the sudden, mild tone of Sakumo's voice. I hadn't even noticed him returning. Nothing to do beyond stare as he crouched in front of me, picking up the block I'd used and turning it over in his hands.

"What are you doing with your toys, Botan?" He asked casually, all smiles and encouragement as he tossed the block back and forth. Any other little kid would've been instantly disarmed by it, but not me with my in-actuality-twenty-something-year-old-brain.

Instead I looked him in the eye, beamed with all the cuteness I could muster, and promptly began showing him my improved skill in tower building.

Sakumo watched like a hawk for the next few days or so. I toned the chakra molding down to bedtime and stayed off his radar, acutely aware of how he hovered around around the edges of the room whenever I played. Luckily his scrutiny lessened after some time with no chakra work from me, but I knew that I'd caught the eye of the shinobi I'd forgotten I lived with, and I never really went unwatched much after that. Either Sakumo would be there, or he'd push Kakashi into playing with me, maybe hoping I'd let my guard down in playing with someone else.

I, however, had learned my lesson. The mystery that was chakra was only partially solved, but there would come a day when people wouldn't even blink to see me messing with it. As boring as the prospect sounded, there was nothing to do but be patient, and wait.

There were other things to work on, anyway. I wasn't the tiny, pre-mature baby I'd started out as. I was steadily growing into toddler-size, further proved when around nine months old I graduated from crawling to my first, faulty steps on wobbly legs. Both annoying as hell and liberating at the same time, my mobility was increasing along with my comprehension skills. Sakumo was speaking in more complicated sentences by the day, supplementing my growing vocabulary and I latched on to his every word in a hunger to learn.

It was another thing when I stumbled upon little Kakashi reading a book. Playing the pushy-curiosity card, I managed to get him to show it to me.

It was, pretty much, a simple kid's book, but...

_Damn. _

I couldn't read a single word of it. Not with the weird, swirly characters that made up words. It was vastly disappointing considering how much I'd loved to read before, but it was a hurdle yet to come that I'd have to master all over again.

I'd hardly been keeping track of the time that went by until the day came when the Hatake household celebrated my first birthday.

* * *

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[**A/N]: **Can you guess the significance of her chakra?

Thanks for reading! I love all of you guys.


	5. V

**Title:** Butterfly Wings

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Genre:** Action/Adventure

**Rating:** T

**[A/N]:** Sorry for the wait; I was caught up with summer and moving up to college life. I should pick up to a more reasonable update schedule now though. This is also totally late, but I'm quite proud of the cover photo I made for this; heheheheheheh.

**Summary:** The beat of a butterfly's wings causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. What storm will rise with the existence of a life that wasn't meant to happen?

* * *

**Butterfly Wings**

Chapter 4

* * *

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Funny how time flies when you don't really think about it. I know that you'd think, being stuck in a toddler's body would make you acutely aware of just how slow time could pass, but I already told you how I managed that; become one with the baby, and all that stuff. Not noticing when a _year _passes, now, that's something that makes you whip your head around and go 'Shit, it's been that long? No, c'mon, stop joking. No seriously. A _year_?'

At first, I didn't even know it was my birthday being celebrated, when the day rolled around. Living in the Hatake household consisted of me, Sakumo, and little Kakashi… that was it. I'd never been outside of the house, not counting the little garden out back that had a tree and a pond. Not a single soul otherwise crossed into the hallowed halls of home, and it was enough to make you think that you didn't actually live in the middle of a village stuffed with people and ninjas alike.

So it was quite understandable when, coming downstairs after a relatively quiet morning, suddenly finding our living room packed with _other people_ threw me a little out of sorts.

It did explain why Sakumo had woken me up and promptly given me a hardcore bubble bath, with nice-smelling soap and everything before dressing me up in a nice new kimono, though. When we entered the room, him holding my hand as I toddled on unsteady legs, we were met by a loud chorus of generally excited noises, and I nearly plopped right down where I stood. _The hell!?_ I protested in my head as I grabbed at my dad's leg and hid, caught off guard enough for childish impulse to take over.

"Botan, don't be shy," Sakumo gently scolded, plucking me up and bringing me into range of all the strangers.

"Dada!?" I squeaked, because what the hell I was unprepared for this and it totally wasn't fair to surprise me like this did I mention I _hated _surprise parties—

"Oh my! She's so big, I can hardly believe it!"

"To think it's been a year already. Bet it went a lot more quickly the second time around, eh Sakumo?"

"C'mere Botan, give us a smile!"

Disconcertingly all these strangers talked as if they knew me. Which was odd because I definitely didn't remember seeing them before… _Oh… wait, hitai-ate. Ninjas. Ninjas everywhere._

And so it went.

I was slowly introduced to all the adults in the room, though I'm ashamed to say I promptly forgot most of their names a few minutes later. It was an off-handed way of introduction anyway, with grown ninjas slipping into cutesy tones as they introduced themselves as 'Uncle-so-and-so' or 'Auntie-thingummy.' I did find that the earlier illusion of a room full of people was false, however; everyone else was just a lot bigger. In actuality there were about five adults or so. None of them were characters I recognized from the main series, and I wondered if they were, in fact, Sakumo's friends that the reader never got a chance to know.

Interestingly enough there were two adults in particular, a ninja and a kunoichi, who were particularly chummy with Sakumo. The ninja kept laughing and thumping my dad on the back as he rambled about being a bachelor. Sakumo kept trying to wiggle away, rolling his eyes, but there wasn't any real annoyance in the gestures. As for the kunoichi, she managed to successfully wrestle me into her own arms, cooing and beaming as she wondered what kind of person I'd grow up to be. Dad hadn't let _anyone_ else hold me, being the naturally suspicious ninja he was.

Were these two… Sakumo's _teammates_? It was possible. Again, the books had never touched on any sort of backstory for his character, and I could _feel_ the trust radiating from the three of them in waves. I stared wide-eyed at them as they chattered at my dad, key word here being 'at' since he seemed sort of embarrassed by all the attention they were giving him. This was funny, since I'd never pegged him as the socially awkward kind of guy.

Eventually I was released from most of the adult's scrutiny, and placed with little Kakashi who was bored by the whole debacle. Ninja talk turned out to be boring, so we tuned out everyone else quite effectively and started messing with toys for most of the day; some hours later I was plucked up again and placed in front of some colorfully wrapped packages. That was when it dawned on me that it was my _birthday_, since there weren't many occasions when people gathered around and gave you presents wrapped in pretty paper.

Get this; for my birthday, I received the following items: a plush puppy doll with a black ribbon; a brand new blanket patterned with the leaf symbol of Konoha; a pair of child-size metal kunai (dull at the edges); and a tiny cloth pouch filled with little throwing stars made of wood.

The first two seem okay, but the last two sort of make you double-take, huh?

Granted, while at first I was like _holy crap these are awesome! _those thoughts quickly went down to _wait something doesn't seem right about giving a little kid fake weapons like this._

Even Kakashi seemed pretty interested with the toy weapons. He promptly snatched the kunai away and fell into a clumsy pose, grinning happily when some of the ninja applauded him. One guy even corrected his grip and pointed out where to bend his knees. It was… odd. On one hand with the way everyone acted, and the general feeling in the room, this scene seemed as natural as the average family living daily life. On the other hand, when you thought about it this was a room full of _trained killers _giving a baby _weapons _on her first birthday and showing a kid how to hold a proper _attack stance. _

Holding a kunai in my chubby hands, I pondered this. Of course there was going to be expectations. I _had _been born into a ninja family, instead of a civilian's. I really should have been expecting it. If Kakashi was shaping up to be a genius, there'd be eyes on me as well. (Not helping was the stunt with my chakra I'd tried a few months ago. Great, now I kinda regretted it…)

"…Can I twy?"

I blinked. Looked up. Standing in front of me was a little kid I'd somehow failed to notice sneaking up to me. He didn't look much older than Kakashi; with his wide brown eyes and messy black hair, he was actually kind of adorable. Plus, he appeared to have a lisp. The question was, who exactly was this again…? He was pointedly looking at my hands, I noticed, to where the kunai was clenched in my fingers. I silently held it out to him, and his face split into a wide, toothy grin. He was missing a tooth. D'aawwww.

"Thanks!" he beamed, plopping down next to me and swiping the toy around in the air.

"Hey!" In a flash, Kakashi was at my side, scowling at the kid. "That's hers. It's her birthday, you can't have it," he said stubbornly, reaching out for the toy, never mind that he himself had seized it not too long ago. The other kid pouted.

"B-but she thaid I can uthe it!" he pointed out. I tried to look innocent.

"She's a baby. She can't say anything yet."

_Aw, bro, I'm not a baby. _

"Now, now, boys, I'm sure Botan won't mind if you share it nicely." A kindly voice chuckled overhead, and I squinted as I craned my neck up in an effort to see who. For some odd reason I could hear the other ninja in the room sounding a bit breathless and awe-struck, some stumbling over words in an effort to speak. You'd think there was a celebrity in the room… Who was this guy in front of me, exactly?

First, I thought _why is that old guy wearing a dress?_

And then, Oh. _Oh. _

It probably wasn't every day that the third Hokage showed up to your first birthday.

"Lord Hokage…" I heard dad say almost awkwardly, confirming that he hadn't exactly been expecting the surprise guest, and the third Hokage of Konohagakure turned away from my sight to speak, leaving me back with the other two children in the room; it certainly didn't stop me from trying to listen in, though, as this was the _Hokage_, in the flesh. (Except this other kid… it couldn't be… Asuma!? He was so… _little._)

"It is good to see you well, Sakumo," Sarutobi Hiruzen said warmly, speaking to the older Hatake in the context of a close friend, "I apologize for the distance this first year, and thought I'd drop by to give my congratulations on your second…"

"It wasn't necessary, sir," Sakumo returned, ever formal and still a bit surprised, I think, "It's an honor you even remembered at all—"

"Nonsense! Of course I'd remember—"

The other adults returned to conversation, and I lost track of the words exchanged. Kakashi and Asuma(?) were arguing over toy-weapons again, so I just sat and played with an _awesome _ball that was gifted to me by the Hokage himself... Though, it was a little weird for the Hokage to be showing up for my birthday at all; I wondered if it wasn't politically motivated in one way or another. I heard the words 'White Fang' and 'Shinobi war' thrown around a few times, until the focus landed back on me. Try as I might, I couldn't help but squirm under the scrutiny of the most important man in the village.

"…She has her mother's eyes…" I heard him say quietly. Sakumo bowed his head at that. I blinked; I hadn't seen myself in any sort of mirror yet, and wondered what color that was.

Gradually the gathering began winding down. I had an overall fun time with little-Kakashi and mini-Asuma alike, though to my vast disappointment there hadn't been any sign of birthday cake. It was near to the end when guests began to leave, vanishing one by one in a manner most befitting of ninjas. The shinobi and kunoichi who may-or-may-not-have-been Sakumo's teammates were the last to go, dwindling until they, too, finally called it a day. When they left, so did the Hokage, with a loud and satisfied sigh as he called out for Asuma to take his hand— (Ha! It _was _him!)

The day would have ended quite pleasantly, had the Hokage not turned in an almost casual manner on the way out and said quite clearly, "I expect you back on the roster full time by next week. Don't forget, now."

My dad was holding me in his arms in order to wave goodbye to the people who'd given me presents, and so the sudden stiffness in his figure did not go unnoticed as he nodded and replied with a simple "Yes, Hokage-_sama._"

His voice was oddly flat.

Three days later a strange woman I'd never seen before was bustling about the house, doing the chores and keeping a watchful eye on my brother and I in a way that previously only Sakumo had done.

As for Sakumo… well, he was nowhere to be seen.

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So Kakashi and Asuma's little argument about Botan's toys, true story that; I was babysitting some cousins, and while the wording wasn't _quite _like that, it was adorable as heck.

As for the author's note last chapter, everyone who guessed that Botan's primary chakra alignment would be water were correct! She's not going to be proficient in _all _the elements (I'm not that crazy to try) but rather I was using some experimental thoughts on how chakra and its element is conducted. Having never had chakra, Botan is much more aware of it, but as such in a way it'll be harder to control because of that. Viewing her chakra as taking on the characteristics of a certain element will a way to understand what the flow of chakra actually is… hope that makes sense? Eh.

COMING UP NEXT: Botan slugs her big brother a good one.


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